Cheaper PCs to Dominate Gaming Industry Over Consoles

The world's largest personal-computer companies are launching new and cheaper gaming PCs, in a move to take costly high-performance features - previously of interest to the most avid players - to the masses.

Gaming on personal computers used to be confined to a niche of tech-savvy males and small PC manufacturers selling expensive, specially made machines. With names like Falcon Northwest Computer Systems Inc., Alienware Corp. and Voodoo Computers Inc., these makers offer super- speedy systems with enhanced graphics capabilities craved by avid gamers, who are willing to shell out $5,000 and up.

The thing is, in one-two years time the hardware that makes a photo-realistic game like Crysis possible will be dirt cheap. By that time the consoles graphics will look like garbage compared to what even a low end PC can do.

And don't tell me "You can't say that! How would you know?!" How do I know? Because it has already happened to be the same way in every consoles life to date. They come out already behind the bell curve for power, then within a year a top of the line PC can do 3-4x the processesing cabalities of any console available.

is right. It's one of the main reasons I, along with many others, won't ever go to PC gaming. There's always the need to update. That and the fact that they aren't as convenient. I would much rather sit in my leather chair and use a controller then sit infront of a computer.

While this is a step in the right direction, I seriously doubt PC's will become as large as consoles in the next 10 years. Consoles themselves are becoming more like PC's anyway.

For me, it's exactly the opposite. I feel much more comfortable in an office chair with a keyboard and mouse. Not that some gaming experiences aren't better from the sofa (Blue Dragon anyone? That game is hot!). But I love me some Civilization and MMO action from my PC.

I'm also more comfortable with the level of control I have over my PC. Voice chat hardware and software, firewall, xfire, etc... Those are options that I value and I don't mind having paid extra to have those options open to me.

pc's will never take customers away from consoles, just look at the ps3, people claim that thats to pricey at $600 and that has a built in blue-ray player! when the day comes that a decend gaming pc can be bought for around $800 maybe then they'll steal a few sells away from consoles but thats a long way off....

and before someone comes up with the usual "i built my pc for $600 and plays bioshock at MAX" stop talking out of your ass...

edot @ benfinkel totally agree with you mate, im more of a pc gamer at heart and a massive pc user, but the price difference is to high, parents can go buy their child and xbox for $300 and he/she is gaming straight away, hdtv or not. also people will go with consoles because you look at scrrenshots, back of box, whatever and the graphics you see are the graphics you get, i still know people who buy a $500 dell pc, go pick up the latest pc game and wonder why it doesnt work or the visauls dont match up. consoles are just easier and a safer bet, but if you had the money, no console can compete with a decend gaming pc...

And when you're looking at the price, don't forget all of the other things that PCs can do that consoles can't. The online platform is incredibly mature, by which I mean most games are online capable and do not suffer the same lag/dc issues you see in the online-console world (think EA Sports Gamernet, which is a joke). The array of game choices is much larger on PCs still, with casual games running as cheaply as $5 a pop all the way up to AAA titles like UT3 and Bioshock, which are cheaper than their 360 counterparts. MMOs are popular and radily available for all budgets (WoW for the rich, Korean micropayment games for the poor). The 360 is trying to catch up with their marketplace features, but it pales in comparison to the diversity and volume in the PC world right now.

Computers also allow you to easily connect to and browse the web, burn movies, edit photos and digital video, create and load custom mods for games, and even program your own games!

In fact, when you think about it, everything that consoles do was taken from what PCs already do.

hrmm... bioshock on Xbox360. Roughly $410 before tax. Bioshock with one of those PC's, probably only capable of DirectX9. $2020. Wow, easy choice. I'll go plunk $2020 to play the same game.

Or how bout this one? Computer companies should make a computer that only plays video games. Have it focused only on video games. And you know what, they should throw in a controller. Also make it so you can hook it up to your tv as well as the audio. And they should make it a convenient size so you can put it anywhere around your home entertainment system. Man that would be a great idea and they would sell millions of those types of computers.

I'd rather the console companies focus on making a console that has some extra features.

How about always letting me hook up a keyboard and mouse. Internet connectivity for online gaming without an additional cost. Heck, let me browse the web and load my own email software on the console so I can check my email. Heck, allow any software so I can edit videos and pictures and listen to or create music. Open the platform so I can download mods that other people have made for games, or even make my own mods or games. Allow the hardware to be modified so I can upgrade the console myself if I'm not happy with the hardware I have. Ease up on their draconian IP policies so 3rd party manufacturers can make useful hardware additions, the extra competition for which would reduce the cost for me. Allow ME to choose what operating system to run, what parental controls to have installed, to choose whether I want AO games or not.

That sounds real nice. Do all of that for the same price as your current console ( http://www.shopping.hp.com/... and you'd sell a bunch of those too I'm sure!

"How about always letting me hook up a keyboard and mouse. Internet connectivity for online gaming without an additional cost. Heck, let me browse the web and load my own email software on the console so I can check my email" dude you heard of the ps3?? you can also install LINUX and run any software that linux supports (eg, firefox) straight off the ps3, with keyboard and mouse, with free net, mod support.... etc etc cant be assed to keep going but im sure you get the idea...

edit @benfinkel, gotta agree again mate.... thing is to people who use/understand pc's theirs no problem, but, you give my dad a copy of half-life2 and a pc i doubt he could get it going, let alone change the video settings to best suit, but you give him a 360/ps3 and a copy of a game and he'll be up and running in no time! guess this will change as the younger generations grow up with computers from a low age but you'll never remove the 'fear' that people get from using a pc...

Except once you add in all the extra stuff you need to do that, keyboard, mouse, and monitor or TV, you're at the same price point as a computer. Except, it's not as powerful as a computer at that price point. I mean, I'm sure in raw numbers it is as powerful, but I betcha running UT3 under Linux (will it urn on Linux? I don't even know, it's just an example) it won't run as well or as high a quality as a PC would run it at the same price point.

Noone looks at TCO, they think that $499 investment in the console with one controller is the end of it. The console companies are geniuses at nickel-and-diming you back to profitability for them. I'm not saying that's a bad thing (they deserve to make a profit), but if you think it's super cheap to console game, you're really just being misled by good marketing.

Like I said, it was only an example to highlight the difference between an actual PC and plugging a KB&M into your PS3. The PS3 is a highly specialized computer and at the end of the day you could spend as much on a mid-range PC with more power and more flexibility than a PS3.

I also work at a PC all day long and I don't find anything work-like about playing games on my PC. I have a gamepad controller plugged in for games that require it, but I prefer the control and flexibility of a KB&M. Maybe you just have a crappy chair at home, but my PC chair allows me to relax many feet from my monitor, wireless KB on my lap, sippin' on gin n juice... :)

Only if Shenmue III/Final Fantasy VII Remake were both exclusive then it would persuade me to play real retail games on a PC. I have always been a console gamer, and I always will be. The whole mouse and keyboard is just not my thing.

consoles combine affordability with a consistent gaming experience. Computers give a high end experience but require constant upgrading to meet the ever advancing tech specs of the latest games. If a gaming computer was feasible for the mass market it would have to cost about the same as the 360. PS3 problems are largely due to its high price which is well below the price of the "cheap computers" referred to in the article. Computer gaming is cool but requires a more substantial investment than the consoles it also generally requires that the gamer have more technical know how. Ultimately the console will rule the roost due to accesibilty and price.